M1 chapter 1 - mathematical modelling

In this chapter you will be introduced to the art of making simplifications and assumptions that allow real-world problems to be tackled using relatively simple mathematics and physics.

Sections

M1 section 1.0

What is mechanics all about?
In this course we aim to solve some simple-to-state problems about the behaviour of inanimate objects in real-world. We do this by making some simplifications and assumptions about the situation. Often we may re-introduce some of these complexities later.
As an example in many sports a ball is kicked, hit or thrown. If all we want to do is get a rough idea of how far it will go, we can assume that the ball is
A foretaste of mechanics - sample problems:

• how far will a shot put go? http://plus.maths.org/content/maths-gold-medals-four-olympic-thoughts

You need to know:

Examples:

C4 Exercise 6A

• C4 Exercise 6A worked solutions:
• Questions similar to this exercise:

C4 section 6.2